Journal Policies
Aims and Scope
National Science Review (NSR) is a new scientific journal published in English under the auspices of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and aimed at the international scientific community. Our goal is to review recent progress in various areas of science in China and around the world, and to discuss issues in science and technology of interest to the international scientific community. Issues include multi-national collaborations, global issues in scientific and technological development, and their impact on society in general.
The journal covers most areas of the natural sciences, including physics and mathematics, chemistry, life sciences, earth sciences, materials sciences, and information sciences, with the following regular sections: Editorial, Reviews, Perspectives, Research Highlights, Letters and Commentaries, Interviews, Forum and Special Topic.
Editorials
Editorials are written by the Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editors, Editorial Board Members, or invited scientists and policy makers, on a broad range of topics from science to science policy and issues related to the broader society.
Reviews
Extensive reviews cover recent progress in specific areas of science, including historical overviews, recent advances made by scientists within China and internationally, and perspectives for future development. The content should be based on, or closely related to, the author’s own research work and appropriate for readers of a broad range of scientific disciplines.
Perspectives
Perspectives include articles on the latest developments in a specific area of research, viewpoints on recent progress in science and technology, scientific research funding and administration, as well as science-related societal issues.
Research Highlights
Research Highlights includes brief summaries and comments on recent research achievements in natural sciences, with emphasis on contributions of Chinese scientists.
Letters & Commentaries
These include letters and comments received by NSR on contents and subjects covered by NSR that are of general interest to our readers.
Interviews
These are in-depth interviews with leading scientists and science policy makers, both from China and abroad.
Forum
The forum provides a platform to discuss timely or controversial issues in science and technological development, science policies and funding mechanisms, and other societal issues, in a variety of formats that include essays and transcripts of round-table discussions and point-counterpoint dialogues.
Special Topic
Special Topic includes comprehensive coverage of a specific research area with significant recent progress in China or internationally. Contents include overviews of major advances in the field, extensive review articles, perspectives, research highlights, and interviews of prominent scientists.
Editorials, Interviews and Forum are written chiefly by the in-house editorial journal teams. All other articles are mainly commissioned from leading scientists and strictly peer-reviewed before publication.
Peer Review
This journal operates single-anonymised peer review, meaning that the Authors identity is known to the Editor and to the Reviewers, but that the Reviewers’ identities are known only to the Editor and are hidden from the Authors. For full details about the peer review process, see Fair editing and peer review.
All manuscripts sent for publication in NSR are strictly and thoroughly peer-reviewed. Our science editor and executive editor first review the submitted manuscript. The criteria used in the initial review include whether the paper is interesting for a broad scientific audience, and whether the content is innovative and valuable. Papers that pass the initial review will be forwarded to one editorial board member for the recommendations of 2–3 referees. The Editorial Office will invite those referees to review the paper and collect at least two review reports and request the decision of the Associate Editor. Regardless of whether a paper is accepted or rejected, we will inform the author of the evaluation results. For the accepted paper, we will carry out a review of the English. In the case of manuscripts in which one of the authors is an editor on the editorial board of the journal, that editor will be blinded from reviewing or making decisions on the manuscript.
Policies
Plagiarism
Manuscripts submitted may be screened with iThenticate anti-plagiarism software in an attempt to detect and prevent plagiarism. Any manuscript may be screened, especially if there is reason to suppose part or all of the text has been previously published. Prior to final acceptance any manuscript that has not already been screened may be put through iThenticate. Please see more information about iThenticate.
Copyright and licence
Upon receipt of accepted manuscripts at NSR authors will be invited to complete an online copyright agreement granting China Science Publishing and MediaLtd. to publish the article under a Creative Commons CC BY copyright agreement. Details of how to sign the licence using our online system will be sent after acceptance.
Self-archiving
For further details, please see our self-archiving policy.
Conflicts of interest
NSR policy requires that each author reveals any financial interests or connections, direct or indirect, or other situations that might raise the question of bias in the work reported or the conclusions, implications, or opinions stated including pertinent commercial or other sources of funding for the individual author(s) or for the associated department(s) or organization(s), personal relationships, or direct academic competition. When considering whether you should declare a conflicting interest or connection please consider the conflict of interest test: Is there any arrangement that would embarrass you or any of your co-authors if it was to emerge after publication and you had not declared it.
Animal Experiments
When reporting animal experiments authors should indicate whether the institution’s, national research council’s, or any other law on the care and use of laboratory animals was followed.
Human Subjects
When reporting on human subjects, authors should indicate whether the procedures followed were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Helsinki Declaration (1964, amended most recently in 2008) of the World Medical Association. Manuscripts should include a statement that the patient’s written consent was obtained and any information, including illustrations, should be as anonymized as far as possible. Authors should indicate that the design of the work has been approved by local ethical committees or that it conforms to standards currently applied in the country of origin. The name of the authorizing body should be stated in the paper.
Material disclaimer
The opinions expressed in NSR are those of the authors and contributors, and do not necessarily reflect those of the editors, the editorial board, Oxford University Press or the organization to which the authors are affiliated.
Contacts at NSR
If you have any questions about this introduction, do not hesitate to contact NSR Editorial Office.
Address: 16 Donghuangchenggen North Street, Beijing 100717, China
Tel: +86-10-6403-7232
Fax: +86-10-6401-6350
E-mail: nsr@scichina.org
